Vishal Dabholkar's maiden five-wicket haul helped bundle Punjab out for 155, as Mumbai completely wrested the advantage by the end of day two in Chandigarh.

Wasim Jaffer scored 111 in the first innings, but Mumbai, who had begun the day at 207 for 5, lost their remaining wickets for just 75 runs.

In the absence of the banned Ankeet Chavan and Ramesh Powar, who has moved to Rajasthan, Dabholkar was given the spin responsibilities for Mumbai this season. He didn't disappoint today, as he ran through Punjab's middle-and lower-order to bowl them out in 63.5 overs and hand Mumbai a first-innings lead of 127. Dabholkar eventually finished with 6 for 38.

Yuvraj Singh struck five fours and top-scored with 33, but as was the case in the recently concluded series against Australia, he was unable to convert his starts into a big score, as Punjab's strong batting line-up struggled to produce a significant partnership.

The openers Kaustubh Pawar and Aditya Tare batted out the remaining overs of the day, as Mumbai built a lead of 162 heading into day three.

A fifty from Mayank Agarwal on his first-class debut helped Karnataka chip away at Jharkhand's first-innings score of 364. Agarwal struck eight fours and a six during his 63, and put up a 61-run opening-stand with KL Rahul.

Rahul departed in the 17th over, but Kunal Kapoor joined Mayank to bat out the final hour of the day and put on an unbeaten 62-run partnership to leave the team 241 runs behind.

Jharkhand's innings had earlier been propelled by an 85 from the captain Shahbaz Nadeem, who smashed 14 fours in what was his highest first-class score. Saurabh Tiwary and Rameez Nemat also contributed with scores of 77 and 68 respectively. Varun Aaron, who last played a competitive game in May 2012, however had little luck with both bat and ball, as he was bowled for 3, and went wicketless in his nine overs. S Aravind was the pick of Karnataka's bowlers, finishing with 4 for 60.

Offspinner Jayant Yadav picked up three quick wickets to rattle Vidarbha's top-order, as Haryana led by 235 runs heading into the penultimate day.

Haryana had powered to 329, thanks to a patient 123 from Sunny Singh, who hit 12 fours and a six. Offspinner Akshay Wakhare picked five wickets, but handy middle-order contributions from Harshal Patel and the captain Ajay Jadeja helped take the team to a competitive total.

Vidarbha's openers Faiz Fazal and Amol Ubarhande began brightly in reply, scoring 40, but Yadav dismissed Fazal and Shalabh Shrivastava in the 22nd over, before catching Ubarhande off his own bowling in the 28th.

Hemang Badani, who bagged a pair in his previous match, reached 35 off 54 deliveries, as Vidarbha finished the day at 94 for 3.

The failures of Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir had left Delhi in a precarious position in Surat but Mithun Manhas and Manan Sharma thwarted Gujarat's probing bowling on a testing pitch. Their unbroken 146-run stand gave Delhi a chance to pull close to Gujarat's first-innings total of 320 after they had been reduced to 49 for 4 in the 30th over.

It is indeed sad to see that Mumbai Batsman - Ajinkya Rahane has been only used to warm Benches in case of Indian Test Team. The amount of importance that national selectors themselves pay to FC performance is negligible. This young man is not getting selected in National Team and is not able to play the Ranaji game against Punjab. With 60+ average in FC and still with only one innings of Test Exp, one should ask selectors what exactly they saw in giving numerous chances to Suresh Raina and to some extent Yuvraj Singh in spite of them not being suitable Temperamentally for Tests. Now Ajinkya should at least be persisted for 8-10 test to give him enough time to prove his mettle..

jimbond
on November 9, 2013, 3:50 GMT

And it would also be useful to look at how many top order Ranji wickets Harbajan would have taken. My guess is - very few. He is also the captain and comfortably outbowls all the other bowlers in the Punjab team. Kaul has been the best bowler for them over the past couple of seasons, and he has been consistently underbowled this year. Sandeep Sharma who was among the top wicket takers for Punjab last year, doesn't find a place in the side this year! whereas a toothless Gony finds a place,and so does Harbajan. My biggest problem with Harbajan is that he uses the Doosra extensively in first class matches and gets lower order wickets, whereas this is either ineffective against international opposition, or else he is too scared to bowl it when tough match referees are present. Punjab would do well to scrap this 'has been', and gives opportunities to a talented Punjabi lad like Harmeet who is languishing in Mumbai.

Manav_Batra42
on November 9, 2013, 13:22 GMT

It is indeed sad to see that Mumbai Batsman - Ajinkya Rahane has been only used to warm Benches in case of Indian Test Team. The amount of importance that national selectors themselves pay to FC performance is negligible. This young man is not getting selected in National Team and is not able to play the Ranaji game against Punjab. With 60+ average in FC and still with only one innings of Test Exp, one should ask selectors what exactly they saw in giving numerous chances to Suresh Raina and to some extent Yuvraj Singh in spite of them not being suitable Temperamentally for Tests. Now Ajinkya should at least be persisted for 8-10 test to give him enough time to prove his mettle..

jimbond
on November 9, 2013, 3:50 GMT

And it would also be useful to look at how many top order Ranji wickets Harbajan would have taken. My guess is - very few. He is also the captain and comfortably outbowls all the other bowlers in the Punjab team. Kaul has been the best bowler for them over the past couple of seasons, and he has been consistently underbowled this year. Sandeep Sharma who was among the top wicket takers for Punjab last year, doesn't find a place in the side this year! whereas a toothless Gony finds a place,and so does Harbajan. My biggest problem with Harbajan is that he uses the Doosra extensively in first class matches and gets lower order wickets, whereas this is either ineffective against international opposition, or else he is too scared to bowl it when tough match referees are present. Punjab would do well to scrap this 'has been', and gives opportunities to a talented Punjabi lad like Harmeet who is languishing in Mumbai.

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jimbond
on November 9, 2013, 3:50 GMT

And it would also be useful to look at how many top order Ranji wickets Harbajan would have taken. My guess is - very few. He is also the captain and comfortably outbowls all the other bowlers in the Punjab team. Kaul has been the best bowler for them over the past couple of seasons, and he has been consistently underbowled this year. Sandeep Sharma who was among the top wicket takers for Punjab last year, doesn't find a place in the side this year! whereas a toothless Gony finds a place,and so does Harbajan. My biggest problem with Harbajan is that he uses the Doosra extensively in first class matches and gets lower order wickets, whereas this is either ineffective against international opposition, or else he is too scared to bowl it when tough match referees are present. Punjab would do well to scrap this 'has been', and gives opportunities to a talented Punjabi lad like Harmeet who is languishing in Mumbai.

Manav_Batra42
on November 9, 2013, 13:22 GMT

It is indeed sad to see that Mumbai Batsman - Ajinkya Rahane has been only used to warm Benches in case of Indian Test Team. The amount of importance that national selectors themselves pay to FC performance is negligible. This young man is not getting selected in National Team and is not able to play the Ranaji game against Punjab. With 60+ average in FC and still with only one innings of Test Exp, one should ask selectors what exactly they saw in giving numerous chances to Suresh Raina and to some extent Yuvraj Singh in spite of them not being suitable Temperamentally for Tests. Now Ajinkya should at least be persisted for 8-10 test to give him enough time to prove his mettle..